I can confirm that Diederik's solution worked with version 0.92.3 on Ubutnu 16. If you are reluctant to install a new Inkscape version, you can, however, add OpenType feature options to the font name, as described in a LibreOffice thread.

So, to use style set 1 of font Abc, for example, type Abc:ss01 in the font selection field (ALT+X).

However, I was neither able to use this for fonts with spaces in their name, nor to use options like onum.

If you are reluctant to install a new Inkscape version to use Diederik's solution, you can add OpenType feature options to the font name, as described in a LibreOffice thread (The thread is about LibreOffice, but the same/similar syntax also applies to Inkscape).

So, for example, to use style set 1 of font Abc in Inkscape, type Abc:ss01 in the font selection field (ALT+X).

However, I was neither able to use this for fonts with spaces in their name, nor to use options like onum.